Prospect Profile: Calvin Pryor – S – Louisville

On top of that, of all the positions on the Packers defense, I can’t think of any with less redeeming value than safety. Every other position has a “yeah, but…” attached to it. You can say “man, the defensive line struggled last year” and answer with “yeah, but there’s a couple young guys with good upside there, like Datone Jones and Josh Boyd.” You can say “wow, I sure didn’t like what the linebackers did last year” and answer with “yeah, but Clay Matthews was injured, Nick Perry was injured, Brad Jones was injured, Robert Francois was injured, and everyone else just had a hard time keeping up.”

Safety, there’s no such excuse. Jerron McMillian was an unmitigated disaster right out of the gate. M.D. Jennings is microscopic. Morgan Burnett regressed. Sean Richardson is still figuring things out after his injury. There’s no player you can point to and say “well, at least we’ve got him!”

Enter Calvin Pryor, who, behind Ra’Shede Hageman and Louis Nix, seems to be the player most often associated with the Packers at the 21st pick. Could he be the answer Ted Thompson is supposedly looking for? Let’s discuss…

Calvin Pryor – S – 6’1″, 210 lbs. – Louisville

Strengths

Big hitter – “Very aggressive running the alley and seeks to make his presence felt in the run game. Sacrifices his body.” (NFL.com)

Prototype build – “Pryor fits the prototype of safety that some teams have recently relied upon to center their secondaries around.” (Yahoo.com)

Turnover creation – “The force of his hits caused a lot of fumbles over his career. ” (WalterFootball.com)

Weaknesses

Undisciplined – ” Plays with too much reckless abandon and lacks discipline playing the cutback. Takes some bad angles and can be outflanked to the perimeter.” (NFL.com)

Unrefined – “Is not asked to play a lot of man coverage.” (NFL.com)

Questionable coverage skills - “While Pryor has looked very fast and athletic whenever he’s been on the field at Louisville, he really hasn’t been tested a whole lot with covering receivers in the slot as Louisville runs a scheme where their safeties tend to either stay back or come up to play the run.” (Rantsports.com)